Demonstrators protest inside the President’s House and Presidential secretariat after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled
(Picture: REUTERS)Sri Lanka’s beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa confirms he will resign, the PM’s office says on Monday, after tens of thousands of protestors stormed both leaders’ official residences.
The prime minister’s private residence was set on fire over the weekend and police said three suspects have been arrested as protests swept the country in the wake of its worst economic crisis in decades.
Crowds refuse to leave the residents belonging to the president and the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Sri Lanka’s largest city Colombo until they resign, the leaders of the protest movement said.
“We are not going anywhere till this president leaves and we have a government that is acceptable to the people,” one of the protesters Jude Hansana, 31, said.
Calm returned to the city on Monday as hundreds of people strolled into the president’s residence and toured the colonial-era buildings.
Police made no attempts to stop anyone.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has also said he would step down to allow an all-party interim government to take over.
He tweeted: “To ensure the continuation of the government including the safety of all citizens I accept the best recommendation of the party leaders today, to make way for an all-party government.”
Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe were not in their residences when the protesters surged into the buildings.
They have not been seen in public since Friday and their whereabouts remains unknown.
Sri Lanka is home to 22 million people.
Inflation in Sri Lanka hit 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned it could soar to 70% in the coming months.
